


Incineration

by punkhale



Series: Fire & Ice [1]
Category: The Queen's Gambit (TV)
Genre: F/M, HEA, Mentions of Sex, Post-Canon, mostly just Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:41:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27749929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punkhale/pseuds/punkhale
Summary: He’d told her no sex back in Ohio because he knew if they went there that she was going to incinerate him.
Relationships: Beth Harmon/Benny Watts
Series: Fire & Ice [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2029897
Comments: 7
Kudos: 200





	Incineration

**Author's Note:**

> This goes with the [other fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27726577) that I wrote, it doesn't matter what order you read them in really, I just wanted to do a little something from Benny's POV

Benny doesn’t do relationships. He hooks up with people, sometimes more than once, based on mutual attraction and the understanding that it’s not serious. Impermanence is the name of the game when it comes to sex. There’s no romance, just needs being met so he can go back to chess without a person hanging on to him and trying to break his attention. He almost never hooks up with people who play chess and it’s hard for them to understand. The game is always in his head, moving pieces across the board.

That’s the way it’s always been for Benny; those are the rules he’s laid out for himself. It’s a system that has served him well for years and he’s never thought to rethink it. That is until Beth Harmon came along and blew the whole thing up. Or rather, she took all his pieces and left him defenseless against the onslaught of herself, leaving him lost and aching.

Beth Harmon had wrecked him. She was an itch under his skin that he could never seem to scratch. Every look she gave him, every time she brushed past him in his small apartment, made him feel like he was on fire. He’d told her no sex back in Ohio because he knew if they went there that she was going to incinerate him. It was dangerous enough having her in such close quarters, always a temptation, always a fire on the verge of consuming him.

He’d held out for a while, priding himself on his self control, but much like their chess games, eventually he resigned. They’d spent that night playing speed chess with his friends and she’d handed him his ass every single time and he had never been so turned on in his life. 

The sex had been explosive. She was soft and warm under him and she grabbed hold of him like he was the only thing in the world, like she was as unmoored as he was. She was so angry at him for talking about chess afterwards but the truth was, if he didn’t talk about chess he was going to say something stupid. Something like “I love you, never leave me.”

Benny had never thought of himself as a coward but at that moment the idea of rejection from Beth had him paralyzed with fear.

So he talked about chess.

And then it had gotten messy. She left, got drunk, broke his heart. He wasn’t sure how she’d managed to get to Russia because he’d told her not to call him. He told himself he didn’t care what she did. 

Then Harry Beltik had showed up at his apartment with Matt and Mark, pushing their way in and setting up chess boards. He’d called his friends; they played the games. And then, when news came that they had adjourned, he’d called Beth and the sound of her voice on the other end of the line made his heart race.

They celebrated her win, going out and drinking beer and playing chess late into the night. In the morning Benny felt lost again. He wasn’t sure whose move it was.

The call came a week later.

“Hello?”

“Benny.” Her voice is breathy and it makes him think of the way she gasped his name as he sank into her. She called, even though he’d told her not to.

He grins. “Beth Harmon.”

“You told me not to call,” she says, echoing his thoughts.

“I was an ass.” If he could go back in time and kick himself, he would. 

She hums and he can picture how she would be looking at him, eyes sharp with a hint of amusement. “Yes, but so was I.”

Benny has so many things he wants to say but he doesn’t know where to start. He wants to ask how Moscow was. What did it feel like to beat Vasily Borgov? Did she miss him? He wants to ask her about Townes. A long moment passes and all he can manage is “So what are you going to do now that you’re home?”

A beat and then “still got that mattress?”

He feels everything in him light up and he laughs. Beth Harmon misses him and he wants to whoop with joy. She would tease him mercilessly if he did.

“I do but Harry punctured it so it’s pretty much useless.”

“Oh.” She sounds upset.

“You won’t need it Beth.”

“ _ Oh. _ ”

“I’ll buy some groceries.”


End file.
